Wonderful memoir of growing up in Newfoundland, in a harsh climate, at a time when the fishing industry was in decline and in the aftermath of the 1949 referendum, when the population narrowly voted to stop being a self-governing British Dominion and become the 10th Province of Canada. The author...
It is well written, of that there is no doubt. But I don't like it. I swing between boredom, disinterest (it's really a history but warped), and anger. Why does Johnston focus so much on Smallwood's relationship with Fielding, who, I assume, is a totally made up character? A fictional biography,...
With World War II in the background, forty-something-year-old Sheilagh Fielding packs her trunks to take up residence on a “deserted” island – population zero, Sheilagh checked - off the coast of Newfoundland. Her solitary goal is to write a novel. She has a tale to tell and an extraordinary tale...